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I was in Blacksburg this weekend for a biannual car show and cookout at VT. A large group of people were going to go on a cruise and met in the Food Lion parking lot. There were probably about 20-30 cars, and we were there about 20 minutes. I wasn't oc'ing at the time, but a friend of mine was. We all left and went on the cruise. A few guys showed up late and were standing there in the parking lot trying to figure out what they were going to do when the police showed up. They asked them if they were with the group that was there before. The police said they got a report of a guy "waving a gun around in the parking lot". I've OC'd all around Blacksburg and never had the police come and investigate. There was absolutely no "gun waving" going on. It was holstered the entire time and never touched.

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It would be nice if they could catch whoever filed that false police report and charge them accordingly.

They'd probably be given an award if the law-abiding gun owner was successfully harassed/arrested.

What an utterly stupid response. Your uninformed,police-baiting left-coast attitude notwithstanding, when did the OP say anythign about the Blacksburg police acting unprofessionally or harassing anyone? Blacksburg police have generally been law-abiding and above board in my experience.

This.

I read nowhere that Blacksburg PD did anything bad to the OCer. They got a 911 call and had to respond and investigate. I've never been harassed by Blacksburg or Christiansburg PD or Mongomery Co. either for that matter.

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I OC'd out of town Thursday afternoon...no issues stopping for gas or packing my fiancee's sister's car before I left.

Also, never dealt with them on the topic of OC (which is nice) but overall any dealings I've ever had or heard of with Blacksburg PD (save for 1 single event at my house where I was not overly polite and neither was the responding officer who had her boot shoved, uninvited, in my door) have been great.

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It would be nice if they could catch whoever filed that false police report and charge them accordingly.

They'd probably be given an award if the law-abiding gun owner was successfully harassed/arrested.

What an utterly stupid response. Your uninformed,police-baiting left-coast attitude notwithstanding, when did the OP say anythign about the Blacksburg police acting unprofessionally or harassing anyone? Blacksburg police have generally been law-abiding and above board in my experience.

Indeed. Stories of police violating constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners have been bashed in to me so many times, it's hard to tell who to trust. Especially when even a single agency has been an angel one day, a devil the next.

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It would be nice if they could catch whoever filed that false police report and charge them accordingly.

They'd probably be given an award if the law-abiding gun owner was successfully harassed/arrested.

What an utterly stupid response. Your uninformed,police-baiting left-coast attitude notwithstanding, when did the OP say anythign about the Blacksburg police acting unprofessionally or harassing anyone? Blacksburg police have generally been law-abiding and above board in my experience.

Indeed. Stories of police violating constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners have been bashed in to me so many times, it's hard to tell who to trust. Especially when even a single agency has been an angel one day, a devil the next.

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It would be nice if they could catch whoever filed that false police report and charge them accordingly.

They'd probably be given an award if the law-abiding gun owner was successfully harassed/arrested.

What an utterly stupid response. Your uninformed,police-baiting left-coast attitude notwithstanding, when did the OP say anythign about the Blacksburg police acting unprofessionally or harassing anyone? Blacksburg police have generally been law-abiding and above board in my experience.

Indeed. Stories of police violating constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners have been bashed in to me so many times, it's hard to tell who to trust. Especially when even a single agency has been an angel one day, a devil the next.

Exactly. We're not in California, N6.

CA is not the only place where constitutional rights have been violated.

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It would be nice if they could catch whoever filed that false police report and charge them accordingly.

They'd probably be given an award if the law-abiding gun owner was successfully harassed/arrested.

What an utterly stupid response. Your uninformed,police-baiting left-coast attitude notwithstanding, when did the OP say anythign about the Blacksburg police acting unprofessionally or harassing anyone? Blacksburg police have generally been law-abiding and above board in my experience.

Indeed. Stories of police violating constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners have been bashed in to me so many times, it's hard to tell who to trust. Especially when even a single agency has been an angel one day, a devil the next.

Exactly. We're not in California, N6.

CA is not the only place where constitutional rights have been violated.

And Virginia is not the only place where we have good interaction with LEOs as in this case I feel that the OP was. At the very least, it was neutral.

Yata hey

You will not rise to the occasion; you will fall back on your level of training.” Archilochus, 650 BC

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So is therea case here (or in similar situations) to file a civil suit against someone who files a false police report against you?

I know the police can take action, but would the subject of the false report have a case? I've often wondered about this.

(Yes, I know yuo can always sue anybody for anything).

I don't know about the civil suit side.

However, I have talked to a Fairfax County magistrate about the criminal side of someone making a false report. She said she would probably not issue a warrant against the false reporter if no arrest was made. Meaning if the OCer only gets talked-to with no arrest, then no criminal warrant for the false report would issue.

Of course, the law is the law. If you were the victim of a false report and maybe had some witnesses on your side,all of you presenting your sworn statements at the same time and in person to the magistrate might sway the matter. Throw in some security camera video that shows the gun never left the holster and was not even pointed at by the OCer, and it might nudge further towards a warrant for the false report.

In any case, +10 on the FOIA request.

I'll make you an offer: I will argue and fight for all of your rights, if you will do the same for me. That is the only way freedom can work. We have to respect all rights, all the time--and strive to win the rights of the other guy as much as for ourselves.

If I am equal to another, how can I legitimately govern him without his express individual consent?

There is no human being on earth I hate so much I would actually vote to inflict government upon him.

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Can anyone imagine the Blacksburg police NOT taking a call like that seriously? I'd be glad they didn't roll up in a SWAT van.

Details are sketchy in second-hand info, in addition to police being legally allowed to lie.

What is missing is how many responded, at what code level (lights and sirens, coming to an abrupt stop in the middle of the lot and jumping out, or driving and parking normally), did they immediately do anything with their guns (unsnap retention, unholster, hold at their sides, etc...)

If they really got a report verbatim that a guy was "waving a gun around in the parking lot", I would expect them to step up the seriousness level. Perhaps not immediately to the level of SWAT, but... certainly not walking around asking people in a semi-relaxed fashion either. That's more of a thing you do when hunting law-abiding -coughgunowners- citizens.

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Can anyone imagine the Blacksburg police NOT taking a call like that seriously? I'd be glad they didn't roll up in a SWAT van.

Details are sketchy in second-hand info, in addition to police being legally allowed to lie.

What is missing is how many responded, at what code level (lights and sirens, coming to an abrupt stop in the middle of the lot and jumping out, or driving and parking normally), did they immediately do anything with their guns (unsnap retention, unholster, hold at their sides, etc...)

If they really got a report verbatim that a guy was "waving a gun around in the parking lot", I would expect them to step up the seriousness level. Perhaps not immediately to the level of SWAT, but... certainly not walking around asking people in a semi-relaxed fashion either. That's more of a thing you do when hunting law-abiding -coughgunowners- citizens.

This is an email from the individual who was there:

"So, (names deleted) decided to get lunch before we went to the foodlion. Because of that, we got there a little late - right after you guys left. We see the titan and focus, and no one else, so we think they are either getting food, or everyone just left. We stand outside and wait for not even a minute, and a cop drives up to us, stops and rolls down his window. At this point I'm thinking "ok, what's going on...?" The conversation is as follows:

Cop: (Greets us). Are you guys here for the guys with the cars? About 30 of 'em. You know, tuner cars?
*we all hesitate a second*
Person 1: Yeah, why?
Cop: Well, they just left. But we got a call from some people inside the stores, saying that they were getting nervous about the group. They said they were waving around guns. Do you know anything about that?
Person 1: Hah. What?
Person 2: No. That doesn't sound like us or something we would do.
Cop: Well ok. I just wanted to see if I could clear up some things, get any more information. It's just that some people were getting a little nervous especially since it was a big group of kids.
Person 3: Yeah.
Cop: Is there a car show going on, or you guys going to a race?
Person 1: No there was a car show. They all just came from a car show.
Cop: Oh allright. Well, thanks for the information. Yall have a good day now.
Peron 2: (after cop leaves) Haha. What just happened? They were waving guns around?
All: (laugh)

So yeah...this is the entire story from right before up till right after. I didn't take notice of what type of cop. It was most likely just a Blacksburg cop, since we are in Bburg. Right after Ian mentioned the car show, I don't remember exactly how the conversation went. I just know it ended really quickly after that, and all that was mentioned. This dialogue is not 100% accurate as to what was said word for word- so in no way quote it (except for tuner cars, group of 30 or so, waving guns around, people getting nervous). This is the conversation as best as I could remember

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Aha, one cop, so relaxed he made himself an easy target (by sitting in an open car) had there been actual criminals afoot, multiple reports supposedly, "big group of kids"?

It sounds like the story is there was an organized group of callers, who may have been kids or parents with kids, or was your group being accused of being the kids?

How likely is that? They're so threatened that they call 911 as a group and nobody takes cover, kids or not, creates a ruckus by running away, possibly screaming, sounds winded to dispatch to justify an escalation above one relaxed officer?

The claimed reports to police don't come anywhere close to the response from police. Therefore, I postulate that they're full of it and just looking for OCers.

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Aha, one cop, so relaxed he made himself an easy target (by sitting in an open car) had there been actual criminals afoot, multiple reports supposedly, "big group of kids"?

It sounds like the story is there was an organized group of callers, who may have been kids or parents with kids, or was your group being accused of being the kids?

How likely is that? They're so threatened that they call 911 as a group and nobody takes cover, kids or not, creates a ruckus by running away, possibly screaming, sounds winded to dispatch to justify an escalation above one relaxed officer?

The claimed reports to police don't come anywhere close to the response from police. Therefore, I postulate that they're full of it and just looking for OCers.

I've never had any issues with the Blacksburg PD while OC'ing. They seem to know the law and don't harass us. I guess we will find out more when I file a FOIA request.

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Since N6 seems to think he knows what happened, allow me to retell, as I was the one OC'ing (first time doing it too).

I showed up to the parking lot, with the majority of people there already. Firearm on my strong side, I got out/walked around and talked to friends. Majority of the time my arms were crossed on my chest (first time OC'ing so I didnâ€™t know where to put my hands) and I purposefully kept my strong side away from the building to inhibit stares from inside. In that time period there were two older drivers that had entered the lot that displayed a full head turn/wide eye/mouthed stare that were very obviously going much slower than they should have. Past that, there was a lot of standing around, people asking me questions, hands never once going near it. When we were all ready to leave, I got in my car and left. No police interaction, no harassment, no â€śwaving around.â€ť

First time I heard of the police showing up was later that night after someone informed the two that I was indeed OCâ€™ing. I wasnâ€™t in direct view of the grocery store (maybe was viewable by two smaller stores next to it), and the fact I actively attempted to keep that side from facing the building leads me to believe someone from the parking lot saw me, went inside and informed a store manager (this is just my speculation based on what I personally saw / did). And based on the first hand account of the interaction with the Officer that arrived, there was no harassment, he imply responded to a call, asked if they seen anything (as he should have), and left.